Floor construction including carpeted trench headers

ABSTRACT

In a floor construction especially of the type which includes a floor slab and a trench header embedded in the floor slab and covered by a trench header cover, carpet on the floor slab and on the trench header cover has abutting edges where it meets. A carpet strip is secured to the abutting edges, having an elongated base underlying the carpet backing, and having an upstanding edge portion secured to the base and running along the edge of the carpet. The edge portion with the base makes an angle between 80* and 84*, preferably 83* . The edge portion at its top is below the top of the pile, and it extends above the carpet backing, locking the carpet at the edge. The carpet strip is secured to the carpet and to the floor slab or the trench header cover as the case may be. The back of the carpet strip preferably is of diminishing thickness at the edge remote from the upstanding edge portion.

United States Patent 1 1 Breading FLOOR CONSTRUCTION INCLUDING CARPETEDTRENCH HEADERS [76] lnventor: Robert P. Breading, 714 Pine Street,

Philadelphia, Pa.

22 Filed: Feb. 24, 1971 21 Appl.No.: 118,415

UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,722,660 7/1929 Connelly ..52/288 2,881,4854/1959 Hyman ..16/7 X 3,204,378 9/1965 Stuessel et al... .....52/221607,457 7/1898 Rasmussen ..52/179 1,789,875 1/1931 Loudenslager ..52/179FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS France ..16/16 1 1 Feb. 13, 1973 PrimaryExaminerAlfred C. Perham Attorney-Jackson, Jackson & Chovanes 7 ABSTRACTIn a floor construction especially of the type which includes a floorslab and a trench header embedded in the floor slab and covered by atrench header cover, carpet on the floor slab and on the trench headercover has abutting edges where it meets. A carpet strip is secured tothe abutting edges, having an elongated base underlying the carpetbacking, and having an upstanding edge portion secured to the base andrunning along the edge of the carpet. The edge portion with the basemakes an angle between 80 and 84, preferably 83. The edge portion at itstop is below the top of the pile, and it extends above the carpetbacking, locking the carpet at the edge. The carpet strip is secured tothe carpet and to the floor slab or the trench header cover as the casemay be. The back of the carpet strip preferably is of diminishingthickness at the edge remote from the upstanding edge portion.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDFEB13 i975 3.715.844 SHEET 1 [IF 2 l"'IIII',

Wren rue ROBERT P. BREADING 5/ Q QWJ M FLOOR CONSTRUCTION INCLUDINGCARPETED TRENCH HEADERS DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The presentinvention relates to an improved carpet edge retaining device, intendedparticularly when the abutting edges of carpet meet some distance outfrom the wall of the room, as in the case where the floor has carpetedtrench header covers. The invention is also applicable to the edges ofthe carpet which adjoin the wall of the room.

A purpose of the invention is to lock and retain a carpet having a pileand a backing by a carpet protecting strip, which has a base underlyingthe carpet and secured thereto, and an upstanding edge portion extendingalong the exposed edge of the carpet, and making with the base an anglebetween 80 and 84, preferably 83, so that it will overlie the backing ofthe carpet but will end below the top of the carpet pile.

A further purpose is to provide upstanding edges of a carpet strip asdescribed which are back to back around the limiting edge of a trenchheader cover, permitting the trench header cover to be removed andreplaced without damaging the carpet.

A further purpose is to provide a feather edge on the edge of the baseof the strip remote from the upstanding edge of the strip.

Further purposes appear in the specification and in the claims.

In the drawings I have chosen to illustrate one only of the numerousembodiments in which my invention may appear, selecting the form shownfrom the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactoryoperation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective of a building floor to which theinvention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section showing the meeting of a trenchheader cover with the floor slab.

FIG. 3 is a vertical section of the carpet protecting strip of theinvention.

In the prior art, in constructing buildings having concrete floor slabswhich make the ultimate floor of the building, it is common practice toembed in the floor slab an electrical distribution system consisting ofQ decks or conduits connecting to trench headers. When an electricaloutlet is desired, it is then possible to drill through the floor at thelocation of a conduit and make electrical connection. Trench headers areopen-topped troughs running through the floor, and covered by coverswhich must be from time to time taken up to change the electricaldistribution.

When the trench headers and the floor slab were covered by tile, such asasphalt or vinyl tile, the construction did not present seriousdifficulties. However, due to the cost of maintaining tile floors, it isnow the general practice to carpet the floor slab and the trench covers.This necessitates abutting edges of the carpeting around the outerlimits of the trench header cover and where two trench header coversmeet.

This abutting edge of the carpet presents a serious problem. It cannotbe bound in the way carpet is commonly bound at the edge of the roombecause this leaves an unsightly exposed portion, which is not uniformon the surface of the pile, and in which persons are likely to catch theheel or toe of a shoe. Merely providing cement on the edge of thebacking is not adequate because the carpet has a poorly supported firstrow of pile, and tends to unravel at that point or at least allow theedgemost row of pile to lean over, disastrously affecting theappearance.

The present invention is also applicable to protecting the edgemostportion of the carpet where it adjoins the wall of the room.

According to the present invention, a carpet protecting strip of L-shapeis provided having a base which underlies and is secured as by cement tothe base of the carpet and having an upstanding edge portion adjoiningthe edge of the carpet. The upstanding edge portion forms a re-entrantangle with the base of the strip, the angle between the two beingbetween and 84, preferably 83, providing a slight setback when lookingdown on the joint The setback is preferably of the order ofone-sixteenth inch per carpet.

The upstanding edge portion has a height which is not greater than andpreferably less than the height of the top of the carpet pile and aheight which is at least as great as the carpet backing, so that itforms a lock or engagement over the top of the carpet backing and willnot permit the carpet to be dislodged. The upstanding edge is suitablycemented to the backing of the carpet.

The base of the strip preferably has a feather edge or a progressivelydiminished thickness on the edge remote from the upstanding edge, andsince the strip is cemented to the slab or the trench header coverbelow, it protects against a sudden change in height of the top of thepile which might cause wear or contribute to danger of catching the footin the carpet.

In effect, therefore, where the header cover meets of the slab there areon all sides back to back upstanding edges of the carpet protectingstrip which allow the trench header cover to be removed without damageto the carpet.

In the construction of the invention, a floor slab 10 has conduits orQ-floor 11 embedded in it and the conduits connect to a trench header 12which has side rails 13 supporting trench header covers 14.

Set on the slab as by cementing to it is slab carpet l5 and supported onthe trench header cover is trench header carpet 16 cemented at the backat 17. Each carpet consists of a backing 18 which in the usual caseinvolves a fabric backing l9 and a foam rubber backing 20. Depending onthe construction of the carpet, whether woven or tufted, the fabricbacking will change its character, but the invention is equallyapplicable to any carpet of pile construction. The carpet has a cut oruncut pile 21 secured in the backing.

A carpet protecting strip 22 is preferably of extruded plastic, forexample polyvinyl chloride, although it may be made of any extrudedplastic such as nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, or the like. Theplastic chosen is preferably an elastic rather than a rigid material.The strip 22 may be made of metal such as asluminum alloy or magnesiumalloy.

Each carpet protecting strip consists of an elongated base 23 which isof diminishing thickness at a feather edge 24 so that its increase inthickness will be gradual. The base joins at 25 an upstanding edgeportion 26. This forms an angle 27 with the base which is slightly lessthan a right angle and between about 80 and 84, preferably 83. The top28 of the upstanding edge has a height greater than the thickness of thebacking of the carpet and less than the thickness of the backing plusthe height of the pile so that it overlies the backing of the carpetadjoining the edge and thus protects against the carpet rolling up atthe edge.

The strip is cemented above the base to the carpet at 30 and at the endof the base the upstanding edge is cemented to the carpet at 31. Thereis cement at 32 which joins the bottom of the base to the surface below.

Thus, the trench header cover can be lifted up with the carpet withoutpulling up or marring the carpet on the slab and the trench header covercan be restored into position without damaging the carpet on the slab.

In case the principles of the invention are to be applied to the outerperimeter of the carpet, it will be understood that there will be onlyone carpet protecting strip in that case as it will adjoin the wall ofthe room. In case trench header covers adjoin one another, it will beunderstood that at one edge the carpet on the trench header covers willhave carpet protecting strips back to back.

The invention is applicable to carpet using any type of pile, includingnatural wool pile and synthetic fiber or blends of wool and syntheticfiber.

It is preferable to use a solvent type synthetic rubber adhesive cementfor gluing the carpet strip to the floor and the plate. it is preferableto use a water base latex cement for gluing the carpet to the carpetstrip and for gluing the carpet to the floor.

The carpet protecting strip may also be cemented to the carpet and tothe slab or trench header cover below by any suitable cement, it beingevident that if it is difficult in obtaining adherence, a surfacetreatment of the carpet protecting strip may be used as common inprinting on plastic, as for example, with flame, electrostaticdischarge, or the like.

In view of my invention and disclosure, variations and modifications tomeet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident toothers skilled in the art, to obtain all or part of the benefits of myinvention without copying the structure shown, and I therefore claim allsuch insofar as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope of myclaims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a building, a floor slab having a horizontal top surface, anelectrical distribution system including a trench header in the floorslab and having an open top, a trench header cover on the trench headerflush with the top of the floor slab, carpet secured on the floor slabhaving abutting edges around the trench header cover, carpet secured tothe trench header cover having abutting edges where it meets the carpeton the floor slab, the carpet having pile and backing, and a carpetstrip at each of the abutting edges having a base underlying the carpetand secured to the carpet and to the floor slab and the trench headercover, as the case may be, and having an upstanding edge secured to thebase, extending along the edges of the carpet back-toback with theupstanding edge of the similar strip, making an angle of to 84 with thebase of the strip, having a top below the top of the pile and overlyingthe backing of the carpet.

2. A building of claim 1, in which each carpet strip base has a featheredge on the side away from the upstanding edge.

1. In a building, a floor slab having a horizontal top surface, anelectrical distribution system including a trench header in the floorslab and having an open top, a trench header cover on the trench headerflush with the top of the floor slab, carpet secured on the floor slabhaving abutting edges around the trench header cover, carpet secured tothe trench header cover having abutting edges where it meets the carpeton the floor slab, the carpet having pile and backing, and a carpetstrip at each of the abutting edges having a base underlying the carpetand secured to the carpet and to the floor slab and the trench headercover, as the case may be, and having an upstanding edge secured to thebase, extending along the edges of the carpet back-to-back with theupstanding edge of the similar strip, making an angle of 80* to 84* withthe base of the strip, having a top below the top of the pile andoverlying the backing of the carpet.
 1. In a building, a floor slabhaving a horizontal top surface, an electrical distribution systemincluding a trench header in the floor slab and having an open top, atrench header cover on the trench header flush with the top of the floorslab, carpet secured on the floor slab having abutting edges around thetrench header cover, carpet secured to the trench header cover havingabutting edges where it meets the carpet on the floor slab, the carpethaving pile and backing, and a carpet strip at each of the abuttingedges having a base underlying the carpet and secured to the carpet andto the floor slab and the trench header cover, as the case may be, andhaving an upstanding edge secured to the base, extending along the edgesof the carpet back-to-back with the upstanding edge of the similarstrip, making an angle of 80* to 84* with the base of the strip, havinga top below the top of the pile and overlying the backing of the carpet.